


I Will Make You Believe You Are Lovely

by lamonnaie



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Cuddling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Neighbours, Pre-Relationship, Very Minor, Yellow Haired Josh Dun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 14:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20409499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamonnaie/pseuds/lamonnaie
Summary: “Um, hello?” Josh sighed, reluctant to say anymore. He wasn’t exactly sure why he was there, stood outside his neighbouring dorm at three in the morning in nothing but boxers and an oversize hoodie drooping over his frame.Josh hears his neighbour crying in the middle of the night and decides to investigate.Fluff.





	I Will Make You Believe You Are Lovely

“Um, hello?” Josh sighed, reluctant to say anymore. He wasn’t exactly sure why he was there, stood outside his neighbouring dorm at one in the morning in nothing but boxers and an oversize hoodie drooping over his frame. Maybe it was basic human decency, to offer comfort or at the least check up on someone who didn’t seem to be having the best time, or maybe Josh just cared a bit too much.

He’d returned from an eight-hour shift at Starbucks in the later part of the evening, having been left with the arduous task of closing up. Having an early night was on the top of his priorities, quickly scoffing down leftovers from lunch before making his way to bed. A peaceful sleep had taken over, dreams of UFOs and drumsticks and Taco bell floating through his head. Yet only a few hours later, Josh found himself being woken from his dazed state.

Quiet, whimpering sounds drifted into Josh’s cramped dorm room. He wrote them off at first with a grumble, muttering something about illegal cats, before drifting back into a state of unconsciousness. Yet with time, the whimpers only got louder, forming into full-fledged sobs. Josh tossed and turned around in his bed, the distressed noises morphing into his dreams as faceless creatures and monsters that couldn’t be seen. Sweat formed along Josh’s back, being absorbed into his bedsheets as the covers lay already tangled up by his feet in an inescapable mess. Each twitch only landed him further into the nightmares in his mind, the cries filling his room adding a haunting soundtrack. Finally, with a deafening thud from the other side of the wall, Josh jolted up from his disturbed sleep.

Faded yellow hair stuck to his head in a sweaty clump as he ran a hand through it, causing the matted strands to stick up in all directions. The _thud thud _from Josh’s heart resounded through his ears, blood pounding through his head a mile a minute. He couldn’t bring to mind what exactly had woken him, but the unmistakeable lump of fear settled deep in his mind confirmed that it couldn’t have been something good. Yet all of Josh’s thoughts of whether he had been abducted by aliens, or maybe eaten a bad taco, were put to rest when another sob wracked through the room. 

“What on Earth…” he muttered, a sleepy fog still plaguing his mind. It took Josh a few moments to process the whimpers that were still going strong. Was there a crying stranger in his dorm? Did he have a roommate he wasn’t aware of? Had he grown a second head in his sleep, and this extra appendage was going through a depressive episode? Josh rolled his eyes at his overactive imagination before grabbed his phone off of the floor, wincing at the bright light that illuminated his surroundings.

_3:26 AM._

Who was even up at that hour? Or more importantly, why were they crying at 3 in the morning? As Josh’s mind cleared up a bit more, he realised that the noises were seemingly from next door. He wracked his brain for who it could possibly be, not taking particularly long before settling on his neighbour, Tyler Joseph.

Tyler was a quiet guy, only having exchanged a few _hellos_ with Josh whenever they happened to leave their dorms at the same time. They didn’t share any classes, but Josh had always regarded of him as a cool guy. And there was no denying that he was attractive – smooth lips that curled into the most endearing smile, fluffy chestnut hair that Josh desperately wanted to run his fingers through and the most breathtaking eyes that seemed to hold the answers to all the universe’s most asked questions. And that led Josh back to his first question: why was Tyler up at 3am crying?

Josh tossed in his bed for a moment, debating whether he should go inquire or not. He didn’t even really know the guy, and he had absolutely no business knocking on his door in the middle of the night when they hadn’t ever even held a conversation. But Josh’s mother had raised him to be a good person, and that included helping others when they needed it. Josh sighed, before hauling himself out of his bed.

He scrabbled around for the closest article of clothing he could find, deeming just a pair of boxers probably not suitable for meeting with a stranger. He picked up his college hoodie from where he had left it on his chair and pulled it on. Grabbing his keys off the kitchen counter, he stumbled to the front door before locking it behind him.

The flickering light of the corridor provided little reassurance to Josh as he stood there, taking in his yellow-washed surroundings. His neighbour’s door had the same cheap look as his own, and Josh had no doubt that the inside of the dorm would be similar enough to his. He hesitated for a moment, letting himself get lost in his still slightly sleep-dazed mind, before taking a deep breath and knocking twice on the door.

He waited for a few seconds, listening closely for any sign of someone approaching the door from the other side. Yet the eerie quite of night was left uninterrupted. Josh took another deep breath, he seemed to be doing a lot of that lately, and cautiously reached for the doorknob. It turned easily under Josh’s palm.

_Huh, _he thought. Student housing probably didn’t hold any murderers, but he still wouldn’t be leaving the door unlocked, especially at night. The cool metal sent chills down Josh’s back, mixing with the cool night air to make the hairs on his neck rise. He stood for a moment contemplating his next course of action.

He could either open the door and barge in - potentially looking like a robber or psychopath in the process – or he could go back to his dorm and pretend he had never been there.

The rational part of Josh’s brain almost immediately decided on the latter, because after all he had no responsibility being there, right?

But curiosity got the better of his sleep-deprived mind as he turned the doorknob once again in one swift movement, gently pushing the door forward.

It creaked open, exposing a pitch-black living room that could have just as easily been Josh’s. Dim moonlight streaming in through an open window provided the only source of light as Josh crept forward, moving just enough to get out of the hallway. The door closed behind him with a soft _click_, and he silently navigated through the sparsely decorated room.

The dorm was abnormally quiet, and as Josh tried to hear past his heavy heartbeat resounding through his ears, he almost thought that maybe he had imagined the noises from earlier. Yet his doubts were put to rest when soft whimpering noises once again reached his ears. Were his surroundings any louder, he would have never even heard it, but in the pin-drop silence each little noise was amplified.

Josh inched forward towards the slightly ajar bedroom door, cautious not to alarm anyone. He caught sight of the corner of a bed inside, yet the rest of the room was shrouded in darkness. Moving on only the balls of his feet, Josh hurried towards the door before pushing it open a little further.

“Hello?” he whispered, scared to break the silence that had engulfed the room.

A startled noise came from the several blankets piled high on the bed, under which Josh assumed was a person. He could see the top of a head peeking out between the thick layers, fluffy brown hair poking out in tufts that looked like someone had been running their fingers through it.

“Wh- Who’s there?” a timid voice called out.

Josh noticed that he was still standing in the doorway surrounded by darkness, and for all Tyler could tell, he might as well have been a serial killer. He pushed the door open further, moving to stand a few feet away from the bed, directly in front of the window that provided a little bit of light.

“Hey,” Josh replied, stilling momentarily before remembering he was still very much a stranger, and continued, “I’m Josh, your neighbour. I heard you crying and thought maybe I’d check up on you?”

Josh winced at his awkwardness, his left hand unconsciously reaching up to tug at the hair at the base of his neck.

The man in the bed, who had risen to a sitting position but was still smothered in far too many blankets, let out a sigh, “I’m sorry for waking you up. I promise it won’t happen again.” He sniffled before continuing, this time in a much more resigned tone that Josh barely registered, “Please don’t yell at me.”

And if Josh’s heart wasn’t already aching for the boy with the dishevelled hair crying in the middle of the night, it sure was now. Those words sealed the deal as he stepped forward, reaching out towards Tyler’s shoulder with a cautious arm, giving Tyler plenty of time to push him away if he wanted. 

“Hey Tyler, don’t worry,” He rested his hand on Tyler’s shoulder, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb. “I really don’t mind.”

He moved closer to the bed, opting to lean on the floor beside the flimsy metal frame rather than intrude even more into Tyler’s personal space. He cautiously held onto Tyler, closing in on every minute movement he made, wanting to make sure he was okay.

If it were up to him, Josh would have wrapped the boy up in the fluffiest blanket in the world the moment he’d first set eyes on him and resigned to cuddling him for the rest of eternity, but he figured that they probably weren’t at that level just yet.

In the last few moments that Josh had been holding onto Tyler, he’d just been sitting there frozen, rigid against the metal poles of the headboard. Josh was ready to just about leave when all of a sudden it was like a button had been pressed.

Tyler let out a loud breathe, visibly folding in on himself as he leaned against Josh’s hand like a lifeline.

He finally turned his head, directly facing Josh for the first time that night. His eyes flickered over the other man’s face for a moment, evaluating whether he meant any harm.

“Why are you here?” He let out, seemingly satisfied with Josh’s intentions. His voice was scratchy from disuse, probably a pitch or two higher than usual.

“I genuinely wanted to check up on you Tyler,” Josh asserted, gently squeezing Tyler’s shoulder to drive home his point.

“I know we don’t know each other that well, but I mean it dude when I say I’m here for you.”

His words seemed to provide enough reassurance to Tyler as he turned almost completely around, pushing Josh’s hand off his shoulders as he looked towards Josh for permission before settling in his arms.

Josh didn’t want to overstep any boundaries, but he guessed that he could probably make himself a bit more comfortable as he slowly got in next to Tyler on the bed, making sure not to let go of him in the process.

Tyler nestled further towards Josh’s chest, his head directly above Josh’s heart, with Josh delicately carding his fingers through Tyler’s hair. They lay in silence for a while, neither of them sleeping but rather taking in the other’s presence.

Time seemed to be at a standstill as they lay there, engulfed in each other’s warmth and affection. Tyler’s whimpering long forgotten as he breathed in Josh’s scent, calmed by his presence alone.

The two inched towards the pull of sleep, their breaths slowly, but surely evening out.

“It just gets to be too much sometimes, y’know?” Tyler exhaled sleepily, letting the thought out into the air.

“Yeah, I know,” Josh replied, hugging Tyler just that bit closer. “I know.”

And he knew.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!  
Kudos and comments are appreciated.  
And come say hi on [tumblr](http://lamonnaie.tumblr.com) if you'd like :)  
:DD


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